CAIRO - Saudi Arabia said Saturday that its navy had evacuated 86 Arab and Western diplomats from the port city of Aden in southern Yemen, as a Saudi-led coalition conducted a third day of airstrikes against the Iranian-backed Houthi movement.

Separately, Saudi Arabia confirmed that a U.S. helicopter had rescued two Saudi pilots who ejected from an F-15 fighter over waters south of Yemen. The official Saudi Press Agency said the pilots were "in good health."

The evacuation of the diplomats reflected the spreading chaos in Yemen as the Houthi-allied forces continued to advance, even under the pressure of the Saudi bombing. The breakdown of order has potentially grave consequences for the United States because Yemen had been a central theater of the war with al-Qaida, but the factional fighting has now forced the United States to withdraw its forces as well.

President out of nation

Aden is Yemen's second-largest city and had been the provisional headquarters of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the Saudi-backed Yemeni leader, since the Houthi forces overran the capital, Sanaa, in January. Hadi has left Yemen, attending a meeting of Arab leaders Saturday in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

The Houthi movement, based in northwestern Yemen, follows a form of Shiite Islam and has received financial support from Iran, the region's Shiite power and the chief rival to Saudi Arabia. The Houthi surge has alarmed the Saudis about the possibility of an Iranian-backed group digging in on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula.

But the Houthis have also struck an alliance with Yemen's former strongman, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who retained support among the Yemeni military and security forces even after he was forced from power in 2012. Those forces have now fractured, and major factions have sided with Saleh and the Houthis against Hadi and his Saudi backers.

Fighting, looting breaks out

Residents of Aden said Friday that fighting had broken out in pockets around the city. Houthi-allied forces were advancing. Military forces nominally working for Hadi had switched sides or deserted, and looters were pillaging military bases. Local militias with no affiliation with Hadi's government were arming themselves to defend their neighborhoods or fight the Houthis.

Commercial flights to Yemen have been cut off, and the Saudi-led coalition has blockaded the ports.

The United States is providing intelligence and logistical support for the Saudi-led campaign, including conducting surveillance flights and providing refueling tankers, The Associated Press reported Saturday.

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